Pakistan Once Shot Down Its Own F-16 Jet: A Costly Mistake Resurfaces Amid Fresh Tensions With India
Against this background, defence experts are going back to a significant 1987 incident that humiliated Pakistan in the international arena. During the Soviet-Afghan War, two F-16 aircraft of Pakistan's 14th Squadron were sent to intercept four Soviet-supported Afghan MiG-23s along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. But the mission turned tragic when one PAF pilot accidentally opened fire on his own wingman in mid-air.
The mission was commanded by Wing Commander Amjad Javed, with Flight Lieutenant Shahid Sikandar piloting the second F-16. When the jets climbed to attack the MiG-23s, Javed confused Sikandar's plane as an enemy target and fired an AIM-9P Sidewinder missile. The missile hit Sikandar's F-16, which was destroyed. Luckily, the pilot ejected safely and lived.
First, the Afghan Air Force took credit for the shoot-down, saying that it had destroyed a Pakistani fighter plane. But a close examination of the wreckage told a different story: Pakistan had accidentally shot down one of its own planes.
What made the humiliation worse was that the F-16, which was one of the most sophisticated multirole fighter aircraft then, had a friend-or-foe identification system. Investigations indicated that the system malfunctioned, but American officials were unconvinced for years about the explanation given by Pakistani authorities.
With Indo-Pak tensions erupting anew, military observers point out that such incidents highlight the paramount value of operational discipline, good intelligence, and trusted technology in preventing unintended escalation — particularly between two nuclear-armed neighbours.
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